


Silence

by Vampykitty_kun



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Brain Damage, M/M, Psychological Trauma, recesetation, suffocation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-24 23:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1621250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampykitty_kun/pseuds/Vampykitty_kun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim could only get the Ducati to go so fast, and the Gotham traffic was unwavering, even with him zipping between vehicles at record speed without any regard for his own safety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silence

No matter what he might have tried, Tim could only get the Ducati to go so fast, and the Gotham traffic was unwavering even with him zipping between vehicles at record speed without any regard for his own safety.

Bruce would not make it in time, he was much too far, and even he was pressing his luck. According to the Joker’s original taunt four hours earlier, Jason’s air would be running out in a few moments, if not already. He did not have the slightest faith in a madman’s calculations. It was only by chance that he had worked out the location, and even though he had known Bruce would be much too late, he had called ahead to make sure that at the very least Bruce would arrive sometime after he did.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tim managed to break free of the traffic, and he plowed through the Amusement Mile gates like a bat out of hell, and floored it across the property towards the central warehouse.

He had expected there to be traps set to distract anyone had they managed to decode the location.

There weren’t, and he soon realized why, ever thankful that it had been him than had been closest, because he was positive that he could hack the complex digital locks on the steel box faster than Bruce could have managed.

And as he worked through the first, and moved onto the second of four, the situation seemed all too bleak with not a sound echoing from within. Still, he fought back his negativity, and even when the third computerized lock proved far more difficult than those previous he kept his head about him. He was not ready to lose Jason, not again, not after they had just recently put the past behind them and grown close.

When he finally cracked the code on the fourth and final lock he had been working at the box for six minutes and forty five seconds.

It looked grim when he flung the lid open and it crashed to the floor behind. Jason was motionless, ankles bound and wrists shackled in front of him, no rise and fall of the chest to be seen. Tim lurched forward and frantically wrenched him from the steel tomb, laid him out, freed his arms, and desperately began attempts at resuscitation. He was only fractionally aware of Bruce’s arrival as he breathed into Jason’s lungs and the batmobile’s engine cut. As he pumped Jason’s sternum, Bruce was at his side, fumbling with a defibrillator pulled from somewhere within the car, and he kept up his efforts even as Bruce turned to ripping Jason’s armor from his frame and setting up the machine.

It took two zaps to kick start his heart, and Tim was never so relieved when he felt the thrumming begin beneath his fingers. He continued his CPR while Bruce fumbled with his supplies and brought forth an oxygen mask. When Jason finally took his first gasp of air on his own he let out a choked sob of relief and Bruce covered his face with the mask. They sat by idly while his breathing self-regulated, and Bruce turned his attention toward the entrance for a time as a second of their fleet of cars arrived at the scene and both Dick and Damian rush to their sides.

When Jason opened his eyes they all had a surge of relief. Dick knelt down to place a hand on the man’s shoulder, Bruce gave a reassured sigh, and Tim squeezed Jason’s gloved hand in support.

But their comfort was short lived.

It soon became apparent that something was very wrong.

There was no anger. No fright. No anguish. Nothing but silence and a blank stare. It took a moment for Bruce to register the situation, and when he did, he immediately began checking responses. The murmuring started, first from Bruce, and then Dick, but Tim knew almost immediately that it was a lost cause. Damian, who he had now realized had kept to the far side during the entire event, seemed to know it as well and kept a grim look upon his face.

Tim had seen the files. Damian had lived it.

It had been too long. He had known when he had first started on the locks. Whether it had been the oxygen deprivation for so long or the trauma of being captured and trapped in a box yet again he could not be sure, perhaps it was both. But it appeared that Jason was suffering a relapse of the brain damage he had lived with before the pit.

And short of repeating what Talia had made her mind up on, it would not change, not by any natural means.

And as Bruce hoisted Jason up into his arms, and Tim followed right behind him as he made his way to the car, he felt empty.

Because while he was sure he could persuade Ra’s somehow to allow him to slip Jason into the acid green water… what would rise from the pit after another severe trauma? Would it be Jason as they had come to know him the past few years? That he had grown to love over the past several months? Or would he be far too gone this time to see any sense?

This he could not answer.

But as he slid into the back seat alongside the currently catatonic form he knew one thing.

This time Jason would _not_ be alone.

He would not leave his side, and if things got too smothering at the manor, he would take him away.

And if- _IF_ there came a time where he felt it was in Jason’s best interest, and it would be safe, he would be there when he sunk down into the ghastly water, and he would stick by him, whoever he was, when he returned from its depths.


End file.
